2014 Directed by Nick Szostakiwskyj
A group of archaeologists uncover a strange structure in Northern Canada, dating over ten thousand years before the present. The team finds themselves isolated when their communication systems fail and it's not long before they begin to feel the effects of the solitude.
Okay so immediately after I finished watching this, I then stepped outside into the night to smoke a cigarette. I live in a place where there is basically near wilderness behind my house and it is very dark. After a minute standing there I hear a stomping of hooves from my immediate left. A deer must have been hanging out, stood frozen so I didn't notice, and then decided to bolt his shit right past me, like 6 feet away from me, taking me my complete surprise.
Now if you have not seen this film that story won't seem particularly noteworthy but if you have, you will know what a fucking freaky and amazing coincidence this was.
Unrated - 1 Hour 39 Minutes
Mystery - Thriller - Horror - Fantasy - Dark
Directed by Nick Szostakiwskyj
Starring Shane Twerdun, Michael Dickson, Carl Toftfelt
Archaeologists have made the discovery of a lifetime when they uncovered a strange structure that is believed to be thousands of years old. The team begins to lose ties to the outside world one by one, compounding the effects of complete and utter isolation in an unforgiving frozen wilderness!
Nick Szostakiwskyj direction, pacing and striptease-esque reveal of the naughty bits that we horror mongers are just aching to wave our crisp dollar bills in the air for, hoping for a lingering glimpse, a clue so fetching we can barely contain ourselves! But ohhhhhhhhhh what…
[Search for the scariest movie : Round 1! Movie 2/9.]
You gotta fucking love evil elder gods. Who are they? Why are they doing this stuff? How were they created? This movie has few things going on. Nothing is explained of course, its left to the viewer. The gore is really on point for this indie film, up to the end where i guess they ran out of money, but still. The gods are fucking deers, and they speak too, its so creepy. Its shot with a nice camera, the location is nice too. We get to see people succumbing to madness, which is always scary in movies.
Fear - 75%
Sweet, sweet ambiguity, how I enjoy you.
Nick Szostakiwskyj's first film has hooked me in. I am very interested in how he chose to write this story. I like to guess at his inspirations, but you never do truly know. I sensed John Carpenter's 'The Thing', Stephen King's 'The Shining', and some H.P. Lovecraft. My trifecta of fear.
Isn't snow the most wonderful backdrop for horror? Nature in and of itself is oppressive and capable of killing you if you act the least bit foolish. So much of history has instances of being trapped with the most grisly of endings. The paranoia, claustrophobia, hunger, thirst, and cold will do you in.
Humans need to explore. It's an instinct like sleeping.…
There's something so satisfying about a movie that says to the viewer: "I'm not laying out an explanation, decide for yourself." Along with an undertone of: "This is life, it sucks and then you die."
Superb chiller.
Yeah, so maybe my expectations were a bit too high but listen to this plot (Some minor SPOILERS here. You ought to to into it knowing as little as possible) A Canadian arctic horror movie about a group of scientists that discover a structure under the snow, a structure that is far too old to be there. As they start to uncover it things start to happen, people get sick and paranoid and infected by something that makes no sense but it quite nicely creepy. And while everyone tries to keep sane and not killing each other, something is watching them in the woods. Something that wants them to off themselves. (End of SPOILERS). If you skipped the previous passage,…
I like a lot of the ingredients here, the snowbound setting maybe most of all — it’s absolutely My Shit as a backdrop for isolation & creeping horror, plus it paves the way for a lot of great “log cabin creaking & groaning in a windstorm” sound FX, which I’m always up for.
But partway through the movie it becomes clear that some of what seemed like a slow burn is actually a near-total disinterest in characterization. That can be fine in the right sort of gorefest and/or slasher: most of the hapless victims in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for one, are interchangeable ciphers. It absolutely doesn’t work when the goal is mounting interpersonal tension and dread, though.
So once the movie reaches…
The very last scene of this film had me yell out a bunch of NO!!'s and HOLY SHIT's.
This is a low budget horror drama that I'd like to consider an unofficial and less gory version of Carpenter's remake of The Thing. This is both good and bad. The acting and dialogue in this film is very engaging and natural and I really enjoyed it.
However - it is a little sad just how much this movie just repeats The Thing with some minor alterations. It borders on plagarism territory at times and that is sad because to me it makes Black Mountain Side kinda lose a bit of its own identity. The best way I can describe it is…
Mix the set up of John Carpenter's The Thing with the beautiful Northern Canadian wilderness and you have yourself a pretty good recipe for success.
This was an interesting slow-burn flick with very strong direction and cinematography.
outed itself as fiction in the first 10 mins when they called the govt agency which funds scientific research in canada "the s.s.h.r.c" without pronouncing it as "shirk" but other than that.......... this was decent
A deer that sounds like optimus prime is disturbing alright, but maybe not in the right way. Really shitty and ugly movie, plus the acting is second-rate at it's best.
A decent independent horror film with strong themes of isolation and paranoia. There have been a lot of parallels drawn between Black Mountain Side and The Thing, but honestly I feel those aren't very warranted, and only serve to disappoint.
Looking at this film without trying to compare it to others, you're met with a movie that has good ideas and some good execution that's bogged down at times by strange dialogue and acting, and some weird writing choices. While the sense of isolation is well done, and the "evil presence" in the movie was pretty cool (in my opinion), it ultimately comes out a bit average.
good movie, has The Thing kind of a vibe to it. could have been better but its worth a watch
A shoestring horror flick that gets by on naturalistic performances from its cast and beautiful, scenic photography. Belongs on every Lovecraft fan's watchlist.
Black Mountain Side is really good. I have a thing for Lovecraftian horror and this film checks a lot of boxes. The bleak, isolated setting; the sense of paranoia; the creeping dread; all of it makes for an excellent slow-burn experience. I absolutely recommend this for fans of John Carpenter's The Thing or Frank Darabont's The Mist.
That being said, there is a nagging sense that something is missing; something that keep this film from ascending to the same league as those others. The main problem is the lack of close ups. There are a lot of beautiful shots in this film (and some surprisingly gruesome ones) but, the lack of reaction shots keeps the viewer at arms length. This…
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